Securing the Northern Region of Ghana? Development Aid and Security Interventions. Eric Obodai Torto. A thesis

Transcription

1 ` Securing the Northern Region of Ghana? Development Aid and Security Interventions by Eric Obodai Torto A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2013 Eric Obodai Torto 2013

2 ` Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including my final revisions, as accepted by the examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. Eric Obodai Torto ii

3 Acknowledgements If the timeless aphorism that it takes a village to raise a child is valid, then it s true that, in my case, it takes an entire department, and other networks, to raise a sociologist. There are, however, specific individuals whose sterling contributions to the successful completion of my doctoral program must be recognized. My sincerest appreciation goes to my supervisor, Dr. Suzan Ilcan, for her unrivalled and excellent supervision, guidance, care, meticulousness, piercing comments and patience. Her priceless advice has been very instrumental to the successful completion of this thesis. I am greatly indebted to my entire thesis committee; Dr. Daniel O Connor, Dr. Jeffrey Grischow, Dr. Jennifer Liu (internal examiner) and Dr. Robbie Shilliam (external examiner). Their insightful comments and contributions have incontrovertibly strengthened my dissertation. Furthermore, I would also like to express profound gratitude to Dr. Ha-Joon Chang and Dr. Chris Abotchie for their encouragement throughout my doctoral studies. Others have contributed to the successful completion of my dissertation. I wish to extend a special note of immense gratitude to Dr. Rick Helmes-Hayes and Dr. Lorne Dawson for facilitating my transfer to the University of Waterloo at an opportune time. Thanks to Ilona Kosa, for providing administrative support that prevented me from colliding with the University s rocky bureaucratic system. I would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Office of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Arts and the Sociology and Legal Studies Department of the University of Waterloo, who enabled me to complete my studies. Finally, numerous friends have provided great support, especially during the thesis stage. I would like to acknowledge the fruitful support of Stephen Svenson, N.W. Jangu, Nansata Yakubu, Aurelio Hilario Ayala, Charles Okyere, Neil Smithwick, Major J. N. K. Amenyah, Dr. Emmanuel Adugu, Allotey Bruce-Konuah and Roger Allotey. Ultimately, I am most grateful to the entire research participants in Tamale, Yendi and Accra. iii

4 For my father and mother, who have always supported my academic pursuits. iv

5 Abstract This dissertation offers a perspective through which we can explore the processes of joint development and security interventions in conflict-prone regions. In employing the experiences of the Northern Region of Ghana as my case study, this thesis examines the ways that the rationales of both development and security interventions are articulated in the field of practice. The central argument of the thesis is that most analyses of aid interventions, particularly those stemming from mainstream development literature, rarely interrogate the underlying rationales and assumptions behind the ideas, strategies and discourses employed in aid intervention. Notably, these rationales and assumptions tend to reduce the complexity of development and security challenges, and, as an end result, facilitate the implementation of technical solutions. The translation of development and security discourses and strategies into programmable practices as they encounter a local population is characterized by complex processes. Following the central argument of the thesis, the key research question interrogates the way that the rationales behind development aid and security interventions have been articulated in conflict- prone Northern Region and how they have been received by the local population. With the overarching aim of understanding the complexities associated with the joint articulation of development and security programmes, this study provides a unique and critical analysis of international development and security practices. The study also provides deeper understanding of the broad socio-economic and political contexts for the delivery of aid interventions. I scrutinise the rationales behind these interventions through the critical examination of colonial practices and three contemporary interventions: 1) Region-wide interventions, 2) the UN Human Security Programme, and 3) Post-liberal interventions used as a panacea to prevailing implementation challenges. Based on the analysis of archival documents, alongside policy, program, and interview documents, my study reveals the ways that the development-security nexus perpetrates liberal practices in the declared conflict-prone Northern Region of Ghana. I also evaluate the way that the development-security nexus reconstitutes individuals as resilient subjects through practices of empowerment and entrepreneurialism, and demonstrates the contestations, contradictions, and colonial features that characterise interventions in the field of articulation. v

6 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations... viii Chapter One... 1 Introduction and Methodology... 1 Situating My Research... 2 Scope and Significance of study Methodological Approach- Qualitative Case Study and Field Methods Summary of the Chapters Chapter Two Theoretical Perspectives of Development and Security Introduction Conceptualizing the Development and Security Nexus Complex Processes in the Production of Development Trusteeship Research Context Concluding remarks Chapter Three Historical Development Interventions in the Northern Region Introduction Colonial Development Policies in Northern Ghana Colonial Labour Recruitment Policy Colonial Government Land Policy in the Northern Ghana Colonial Infrastructural Investment Policy Colonial Agricultural Development Policy Colonial Education Policy in Northern Ghana Indirect Rule: Empowerment of Native Kingdoms and Conflict Implications State Formation Processes and Agrarian Strategies in Northern Ghana State Policies and the Intensification of Ethnic Conflicts Concluding remarks Chapter Four Development and Security Interventions in the Northern Region Introduction Liberal Development and Security Perspectives of Aid Actors vi

7 Development Interventions for Poverty Reduction The Northern Rural Growth Program: Potential for Agrarian Transformation? Limitations of Supply-side Driven Agricultural Interventions Processes of Community Involvement in Water Privatization Political Dynamics of Community Water Supply and Management Conflict Resolution: A Key to unlock the Conflicts of the Northern Region? Implications of Neoliberal Development Policies on Conflict Prone Regions Concluding remarks Chapter Five Human Security Interventions in the Northern Region Introduction Drivers of the Human Security Framework Security Driven Interventions: Processes of Community Oriented Conflict Prevention Incorporation of Media Actors in Conflict Prevention Competitiveness and Entrepreneurialism as Panacea to Poverty Skills Development: A Magic Bullet for Youth Employment Creation? Concluding remarks Chapter Six Post-liberal Interventions: A Solution to the Development and Security Impasse? Introduction Articulation of the Development-Security Nexus: A Linear or Non-Linear Practice? Institutional Challenges to the articulation of Development-Security Nexus Myth and Neglected Details of Post-liberal Recommendations Concluding remarks Chapter Seven Summary and Conclusion Implications for Future Research and Policy Direction References Appendix vii

8 List of Abbreviations ADB AU BWIs CIDA CLIP CWSA DSN DFID FAO GHANEP GIZ GLSS GoG GSGDA IMF INGOs ISODEC JICA KOYA MOD MOFA MDGs Agricultural Development Bank African Union Bretton Wood Institutions Canadian International Development Agency Community Life Improvement Project Community Water and Sanitation Agency Development-Security Nexus Department for International Development Food and Agricultural Organisation Ghana Network for Peacebuilding German International Development Ghana Living Standard Survey Government of Ghana Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda International Monetary Fund International Non-Governmental Organisations Integrated Social Development Centre Japan International Cooperation Agency Konkomba Youth Association Ministry of Defence Ministry of Food and Agriculture Millennium Development Goals viii

9 NBSSI NEPAD NGOs NLC NLM NORRIP NORYDA NPP NRC NRGP PRSP SADA SAP SMC SSA TAMA UNDP UN FTHS UNICEF UNIDO UN JHSP UNU WFP National Board for Small-Scale Industries New Partnership for African Development Non-Governmental Organisations National Liberation Council National Liberation Movement Northern Region Integrated Rural Project Northern Region Youth Development Association Northern Peoples Party National Redemption Council Northern Rural Growth Project Poverty Reduction Strategic Papers Savannah Accelerated Development Authority Structural Adjustment Programme Supreme Military Council Sub-Saharan Africa Tamale Metropolitan Assembly United Nations Development Programme United Nations Fund Trust for Human Security United Nations Children Emergency Fund United Nations Industrial Development Organisation United Nations Joint Human Security Programme United Nations University World Food Programme ix

10 WTO World Trade Organisation x

11 Chapter One Introduction and Methodology This dissertation focuses on the Northern Region of Ghana in order to critically examine the joint articulation of development and security interventions by development aid actors in a post-conflict region. Critical focal areas of examination are the rationales and assumptions that underpin the strategies and discourses of aid and security interventions. The central argument of the thesis is that most analyses of aid interventions, particularly those stemming from mainstream development literature, rarely interrogate the underlying rationales and assumptions behind the ideas, strategies and discourses of interventions. Notably, these rationales and assumptions tend to reduce the complexity of development and security challenges, and thereby facilitate the institutionalization of technical solutions. Furthermore, the translation of development and security discourses and strategies into programmable practices as they encounter a local population are characterized by complex processes. Following the central argument of the thesis, the key research question examines the ways that the rationales behind development aid and security interventions are articulated in the conflictprone Northern Region and received by the local population. The study draws and expands on Duffield s critical perspective on the development-security nexus as a theoretical framework to examine joint interventions. Furthermore, in relation to the independent concepts of development and security, I again draw on work of scholars, including Ferguson, Mosse, and Chandler. The empirical analysis is based on case studies of aid programmes articulated predominantly in communities of Tamale, the regional capital, as well as Yendi. The analysis also benefits from discourse analysis, namely in terms of the documents aid agencies have 1

12 published relating to the Northern Region. This chapter takes the following format: first, I situate my research, and then examine the scope and significance of my study. A section that recounts my research methodology follows, and finally I summarize the chapters that constitute this thesis. Situating My Research The international development policy directions and priorities have taken a new path from one that calls for humanitarian assistance through relief aid in conflict-ridden societies toward attempting to secure post-conflict societies. The move to secure post-conflict societies has been configured through the articulation of complementary and coordinated development and security interventions (Heathershaw, 2008). Collinson, Elhawary and Muggah (2010) posit that the need for stabilization has necessitated the integration of both development and security interventions in post-conflict, recovery societies. Following the need to secure post-conflict societies is the shift in the meaning of security that has placed the human being in a central, pivotal role. Mahub-ul Haq redefines human security to reflect a new notion of security and argues that: the world is entering a new era in which the very concept of security will changeand change dramatically. Security will be interpreted as: security of people, not just territory. Security of individuals, not just nations. Security through development, not through arms. Security of all the people everywhere - in their homes, in their jobs, in their streets, in their communities, in their environment (Haq, 1995, p. 115). The attempted fusion of security and development interventions is evident in the UNDP s broad notion of security. Thus, the UNDP s framing of security encapsulates human development components, specifically in reference to needs. A call for a joint articulation of security and development interventions 2

13 within the UN aid system and other bilateral/multilateral institutions led Duffield (2001) to frame the development-security nexus (DSN) as a new intervention lexicon in conflict and post-conflict societies. Conceptually, the DSN is an integrative framework for the articulation of joint development and security interventions, with a goal of securing a conflict-prone region. In my view, it is imperative to examine the underlying logic that translates the DSN into concrete programs and strategies intended to secure conflict-ridden regions. Another issue worthy of consideration is whether or not this reciprocal relationship between development and security exists at the operational and institutional levels. Evidence from this study indicates an overwhelming absence of congruent working interactions between development and security actors. An important conclusion drawn from this study is that the alleged nexus between diverse aid actors in a conflict-prone region is a fiction, and that, in actual practice, this absence perpetrates autonomous business as usual practices. The World Bank, in its World Development Report entitled Conflict, Security and Development and published in 2011, describes the reciprocal relationship between security and development, but more importantly, it foregrounds a new area of intervention as its core. The central message for the prevention of conflict and the enhancement of security exhibits a desire to begin: strengthening legitimate institutions and governance to provide citizen security, justice and jobs [as a] crucial to break cycles of violence (p. 2). From my perspective, such predetermined remedial measures to end violence and insecurity in various forms pose legitimate concerns in regards to the ways in which problems have been framed in the first place. A problematic notion embedded in these kinds of calculated declaratory statements is the presupposition that aid agencies can know the precise causes of security and development problems. The framing of existing international aid interventions as new universal blueprints 3

14 for homogenized conflict prone regions tends to foreclose alternative options. This continuous interventionist interest is reflected in the report s first declared track of international action, that is preventing repeated cycles of violence by investing in citizen security, jobs and justice (p. 270). The other declared intervention area relates to administrative reforms that will aid in expediting the pace of delivery. From my perspective, the omission of the rationale and assumptions behind proposed interventions signifies a research gap that must be filled. The report gives the impression that external interventions are objectively neutral, trans-ideological, necessary and desirable for security and development improvements within developing countries. The 2011 World Development Report (hereafter designated as the 2011 Report ), however, did not provide any critical, introspective analysis of the past program failures apart from a reference to administrative reforms and the need for the proper sequencing of interventions. I suggest that the importance given to administrative reforms will serve to simplify the complex security and development problems in order to foist a universallyimagined technical, timeless solution on the region. Further scrutiny suggests that a liberal ideological and positivistic epistemological and ontological perspective heavily influenced the 2011 Report. The dominance of a liberal orientation in the 2011 Report necessitates the interrogation of rationales and assumptions about interventions undertaken in the name of the DSN. Furthermore, these liberal interventions that were prioritized by the 2011 Report are essentially the recycling of old practices that precede conception of the DSN. In this vein, the UNJHSP is an embodiment of the DSN, and, as will be discussed in Chapter five, this DSN is a replication of existing international development frameworks. An analysis, therefore, must be conducted at all levels of the process, from the source of the ideas to the labeling and framing 4

15 practices put in use. More importantly, the exploration of the rationales and assumptions that underlie interventions and their reception by the target population in the localities needs to be examined. The coming into vogue of a conflict prevention notion as a precondition for poverty reduction tends to forge reciprocal linkages between security and development issues by the aid industry. Picciotto claims that development has always been viewed as dependent on adequate security conditions, but a causal two-way causal connection has not been established (2006, p.114). The interventionist policy implications are that, notwithstanding the absence of empirical evidential causal relations between security and development, the fusion of the two concepts is deemed to have instrumental relevance. The study s findings suggest that an attempt to draw causal connections between security and development interventions is a restrictive exercise. Furthermore, the bounded notion of the DSN suggests that it can only be used as an attempt to regulate society. The DSN, however, does not constitute a dependable theoretical and empirical framework to initiate transformational strategies to secure a postcolonial region like the Northern Region. An acclaimed interest in tackling global poverty and conflicts has led to the adoption of the DSN as an interventionist lexicon within the donor community. The UN Report (2004) from the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, notes that: Development and security are inextricably linked. A more secure world is only possible if poor countries are given a real chance to develop. Extreme poverty and infectious diseases threaten many people directly, but they also provide a fertile breeding-ground for other threats, including civil conflict. Even people in rich countries will be more secure if their governments help 5

16 poor countries to defeat poverty and disease by meeting the Millennium Development Goals. (p. 9) This UN report aims to attach a reciprocal relationship between security and development, which raises a vital question about the authenticity of the newness of these twin phenomena. Significantly, the framing of the newness problem has become the established interventionist orthodoxy of the aid industry. The questionable authenticity of the newness tag stems from the fact that the dual challenges endemic to security and development are hardly evidenced by their colonial antecedents. A crucial note here is that the disappointing outcomes of the past development aid interventions continue to re-occur under the rubric of the current DSN. Bain (2007), Richmond (2011), and Denney (2011) attest to the failures associated to the DSN interventions that have been blamed on the instrumental liberal orientation of the joint articulation of the proposed interventions. Denney (2011, p. 290), in her work related to the DFID post-conflict interventions in Sierra Leone, posits that the poverty reduction expected to follow the intensive Security Sector Reforms did not materialize because the country s PRSP strategies were too broad and not deep enough to address the structural bottlenecks. Particularly, this study suggests that by limiting focus to the outcomes of PRSPs, for instance, and without questioning the technical solutions proffered, the complex relational dynamics that undergird the problems will be obscured. The findings of the study suggest that interventionist rationales and assumptions are factors that ensure the silencing of relational factors used to perpetuate a technocratic orientation of programs. As indicated above, there have been significant instrumental critiques dealing with the DSN, but an area that remains under-researched relates directly to the ideas, rationales and assumptions of security and development interventions as 6

17 well as the relational factors the DSN has to contend with. Also under researched is the way interventions play out empirically on the field of practice. The main task of this study, therefore, is to examine the intervention rationales, assumptions and relational factors that are dearth in the DSN literature. My study is grounded on the position that the site of intervention is not merely an object amenable for perpetual manipulation. International development aid interventions constitute the interplay of an intervener over an intervened population. The term intervened population is used to denote the aid agencies prioritization of individuals as the focal point of development and security. The implication of this human dimension of interventions is that an examination of external aid interventions must not be limited to the viewpoint of the intervener, a viewpoint that has been the most frequent area of research conducted particularly by international relations scholars such as Bain (2007) and MacGinty (2010). MacGinty (2010, p. 398) argues for aid agencies to move away from best practices, and take into consideration the urgent necessity for aid agencies working in conflict regions to embrace hybridization. Further, MacGinty deems hybridization a precondition for the successful implementation of aid interventions. The study findings, however, suggest that the mere recognition of a need for hybridization does not necessarily provide a framework to understanding the complexities inherent in the articulation of aid interventions. A vital discovery elucidated in my research is that the diverse ethnic groups and disparate polities do not lend themselves to smooth instrumental hybridity. The competing, diverse polities of ethnic groups are situated within the broader complex and adverse colonial and post-colonial relational (social and political) context in which the Northern Region is placed. 7

18 An important issue to note is that the Northern Region constitutes the epicenter of conflict and insecurity in Ghana. This observation is attested to by the UN FTHS (2009) which states that, for the period , the Northern Region alone accounted for 19 out of 26 of the major conflicts that occurred in the entire three regions in Northern Ghana. Furthermore, Ahorsu and Gebe (2011) note that, since the inception of the th republican constitution of Ghana, the Northern Region has remained a security and governance challenge not only to the rest of the nation but also to the entire West African sub-region. Major conflicts in the Northern Region have been predominantly chieftaincy-related, and have involved boundary disputes among different ethnic groups. Since 1994, the year that recorded the highest number of casualties in the history of the region and the country, the thorniest conflict has been the Dagbon crisis. The Dagbon crisis is an inter-dynasty/intra-ethnic chieftaincy succession dispute between the only two eligible gates, the Abudus and Andanis. The Dagbon conflict also resulted in a regicide in 2002, when the Ya-Na, Yakubu Andani, was murdered alongside many of his supporters by the Abudu faction, as has been reported by the Wuaku Commission (Government of Ghana, 2003). The three day conflict (March 22-25, 2002) occurred in Yendi, which is the traditional capital of the Dagombas, and the location of the Gbewaa Palace. The conflict later extended to Tamale, which is inhabited mainly by the Andani faction, and all in all several villages were destroyed as noted by Seini and Tsikata (2004). The government imposed a state of emergency on Tamale and Yendi in order to mitigate the violence, a situation that finally ended in August My contention is that the state of emergency fundamentally served as a crisis management option because the state did not pursue long-term structural and institutional measures in order to engage the underlying factors of the conflict. 8

19 Moreover, the seriousness of the Dagbon crisis relates to three critical factors. First, the Dagombas, based on the 2010 national census, comprise at least 40% of the entire population of Northern Region. With this high population of Dagombas divided along the two main gates, the security of the nation was compromised. Tamale, the administrative, commercial and financial capital of the study region, and Yendi constitute the region s development hub. The conflicts, according to McGaffey (2006), have left the two areas at a developmental standstill, resulting in negative implications for the entire region. Thirdly, the Dagbon crisis, more than any other conflict in the country, has captured the national political consciousness. To be more specific, the Andani are perceived to be sympathetic towards the ruling government, the National Democratic Congress. On the other hand, the Abudus are perceived to be aligned with the New Patriotic Party the most dominant opposition political party (Tonah, 2012). The infiltration of national partisan politics has contributed significantly to the unending nature of the Dagbon crisis. The absence of serious security enforcement by the various governments is made worse by their failure to fully and comprehensively implement the various recommendations proposed by the commissions of inquiries as a road-map to find lasting solutions. Succession disputes are rooted in both pre-colonial and post-colonial history of the various ethnic groups involved. The 2002 regicide, according to the Wuaku Commission, is traced to 1967, following the death of Ya-Na Abdulai. An essential trigger in the conflict is the reinterpretation of succession rules. The 1930 succession format which, according to Ferguson and Wilks (1970), was an integral part of the Dagomba constitution, limited eligibility for the position of Ya-Na to three main dukedoms: Mion, Savelugu and Karaga. With the pursuit of a new colonial policy of election of officers to administer the local councils, however, the Abudu 9

20 gate petitioned the Dagbon Council in May 1948 and advocated for an election to the position of Ya-Na by a small committee of elders (MacGaffey, 2006, p. 82). The Andanis, however, rejected this Abudu proposal on the grounds that it was inconsistent with their traditions. Furthermore, the Andanis viewed this election proposal as a way for the Abudus to dominate the Na-ship, because the majority of chiefs that would elect the Ya-Na were aligned with the Abudus. The election proposal bid by the Abudus did not take effect until 1954 following the death of the Ya-Na, Mahama (Abudu). Staniland (1975) notes that, contrary to the procedure in place that required the eligible successor to be a chief of one of the three dukedoms, this time around, this strict rule was side stepped when the regent, Gbonlana Abdulai, was elected as the new Ya-Na. The Andanis felt short-changed by the enskinnment of Abdulai, and this instigated a series of violent conflicts and petitioned the Dagon State Council to reverse the enskinnment. In search of a solution, the Andani leadership, alleged to have close ties with the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) government, appealed to the government to de-skin Ya-Na Abdulai. The CPP government did not approve to this request for de-skinnment, but rather constituted a commission of inquiry chaired by Justice Opoku-Afari to investigate the Andani petition and recommend measures to restore the rotational system between the two gates. The committee established that the Andanis had been denied their turn to occupy the Na-Ship, and therefore recommended that, upon the death of the then Ya-Na Abdulai, the next two Ya-Nas must be enskinned from the Andani gate to atone for the previous anomaly. The government passed Legislative Instrument 59 in 1960 to restore the rotational system between the two gates. Upon the death of the Ya-Na Abdulai in 1967, the enforcement of Legislative Instrument 59 was met with fierce contestation between the regent, Gbonlana Muhammed, and 10

21 the Mion-Lana Andani. In 1968, the Mion-Lana Andani was enskinned as the new Ya-Na, but, as noted by Ferguson and Wilks (1970) and Staniland (1975), the Abudus consistently challenged the legitimacy and authority of Ya-Na Andani. The Abudus ultimately laid their grievances before the new government, the United Progress Party, as a last option to depose Ya-Na Andani. In response to the Abudus s petition, the government of the United Progress Party instituted an investigative committee, chaired by Mate-Kole, to inquire into their grievances. This Mate-Kole Committee faulted Legislative Instrument 59, and therefore nullified the Na-ship of Andani. In 1974, however, the new military government, the National Redemption Council (NRC), based on series of petitions from the Andanis, established a committee headed by Justice Ollenu to inquire into the issues between the two groups. The Ollenu Committee overturned the findings of the Mate-Kole committee and restored Legislative Instrument 59. With the new ruling, Ya-Na Mahamadu Abdulai was de-skinned and Yakubu Andani was enskinned as the new Ya-Na. But the contestations from the Abudu end continued (MacGaffey, 2006). In 1986, the contestations between the two gates were referred to the Supreme Court, and by a 6-1 decision, judgment was made in favor of the Andanis. The Supreme Court ruling, however, was rejected by the Abudus who felt that the government had influenced the ruling. Abudu dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court ruling rather intensified the tension and violence between the two gates. In the end, the military intervened to quell the hostilities, but the underlying grievances and motivations behind the hostilities were left unaddressed. The death of the deskinned Ya-Na Mahamadu Abdulai in 1988 exacerbated the tension due to the entrenched positions taken by both gates in the interpretation of their traditions. The Andanis objected to Abdulai s burial in the Gbewaa palace on the grounds that he died outside 11

22 the palace, and his burial was thus against the Dagbon tradition. On the other hand, the Abudus insisted that he died as a Ya-Na, and was hence entitled to a royal burial. As of today, this burial conundrum has yet to be resolved and thus remains a possible source of conflict as suggested by the Wuaku Commission. Furthermore, the challenge to Ya-Na Yakubu Andani s kingship continued and, by 2002, these contestations had become intense. It has been alleged that the Abudus were energized when the New Patriotic Party government assumed office, because they had made an electoral promise to de-skin Ya-Na Yakubu Andani. In one instance, MacGaffey (2006) notes how the Abudus organized their version of the Bugum festival under the protection of state security in order to undermine the authority of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani. A curfew was imposed in Yendi, but the regional minister, in a unilateral decision, lifted the curfew and violent conflict that ensued for three days began. During the conflict, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani was killed. The political opportunism of the various governments and the northern political elites has played a significant role in perpetuating the unending conflicts of the Dagbon Crisis. The Wuaku Commission, which was mandated to investigate the regicide, blamed past governments and individuals from both gates who had ties to the government for their complicity in the Dagbon crisis. The Wuaku Commission also identified pervasive poverty and the structural underdevelopment of the Northern Region as major factors that predisposed the Dagbon to. In search for a road map to restore peace, the two gates in Dagbon and the New Patriotic Party government, with technical support from the UNDP, formed a Committee of Eminent Chiefs to work on modalities to achieve peace. This Committee of Eminent Chiefs worked through dialogue and negotiation processes and, in 2006, arrived at five benchmarks for peace and security. These benchmarks are as follows: i) the burial of the late Ya Na Andani 12

23 II; ii) the installation of the regent of the late king; iii) the performance of the funeral of the deposed Ya Na Mahamadu Abdulai IV; iv) the performance of the funeral of Ya Na Yakubu Andani II; and v) the selection and enskinnment of a new Ya Na for Dagbon (Tonah, 2012, p. 10). In terms of implementation of these benchmarks, only the first two had been implemented as of September Because the Committee of Eminent chiefs did not provide an acceptable framework that dealt with the root cause(s) of the Dagbon crisis, implementing the other three benchmarks will be difficult. Mutual mistrust between the two gates has significantly contributed to sustain the tension. In 2011, the Abudu leadership suspected the Andani faction to be stock-piling arms in preparation to appoint new chiefs for the skins, and wrote a petition to the President of Ghana. In that letter, the Abudu leadership states: This is a recipe for conflict in Dagbon. Neither the Kug-Na nor the Kampakuya-Na has power to authorize any regent to perform his deceased father s funeral. Any attempt by the Kampakuya-Na or his agents to appoint a chief to skins currently occupied by regents from the Abudu Gate, will be fiercely resisted (Ghanaian Chronicle, October 21, 2011). The cumulative effect of this situation is that the Dagbon crisis is still raging, notwithstanding numerous interventions. In the wake of the failure to resolve the Dagbon crisis, and against the backdrop of numerous inter-ethnic conflicts and the endemic poverty in the Northern Region, the UN JHSP has adopted the human security framework as a remedial measure. The human security framework constitutes one of the frameworks of the DSN. The UN JHSP has adopted Tamale and Yendi as sites of intervention, with the expectation that the programs will be extended to other conflict districts in the coming years. The UN JHSP comprises six UN agencies: the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 13

24 the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Food Program (WFP), United Nations University (UNU) and the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF). It is worthwhile to note that security interventions by these aid agencies have been on-going in the region since the Konkomba-Nanumba, Dagomba and Gonja War in An important finding of my study is that the UNJHSP security interventions, as with those development interventions, are very much akin to the 1994 conflict resolution interventions as discussed in chapter four. The apparent unending insecurity related tensions and poverty conditions, in my judgment, raise questions about how aid interventions were, and are, dispensed. These questions are further buoyed by mainstream literature, such as work by Sachs (2005) and Paris (2010) who view development and security challenges as technical problems that can be solved by silencing the historical, and social-relational dimensions at work in the study region. The likely effect of these liberal-oriented mainstream beliefs is that short-term technical solutions are prescribed and conceptualized, instead of long-term approaches being considered to address the to address a complex set of interlocking problems. It is necessary, therefore, to undertake a critical discourse analysis (which includes relational aspects) of security and development interventions that incorporates the region s development history. A critical discourse analysis will entail an examination of the pertinent social-relational processes that underpin nascent poverty reduction strategies. The choice of region for the focus of my study is to provide historical context/background and social relations dynamics that are deficient in a joint articulation of development and security interventions. It is my contention that insights into the social relations of the DSN will bridge the ahistorism and depoliticization that have characterized the mainstream development and security literature. 14

25 The choice of the Northern Region as the study region provides both conceptual and empirical bases to assess whether the normative DSN functions an appropriate framework to secure the conflict-prone region. A major finding of my study reveals the inability of international aid interventions to transform poverty, conflict and insecurity conditions in the region. This inability on the part of the aid industry to secure the region gives ample justification to seriously engage the rationales and assumptions that underpin international aid practices. There is a paucity of literature on the region that fully examines the fusion of development and security interventions in the Northern Region. Oelbaum (2010) attempts to draw a reciprocal linkage between spatial poverty and ethnic conflict traps in the region, occasioned by the implementation of SAP. His work provides useful insight about the need for aid agencies to avoid the fallacy of unit universalization in conflict risk assessment. He (2010) further proposes that serious considerations be accorded to politico-institutional issues as well as to prioritizing the political center before embarking on economic reforms. Oelbaum s (2010) work, however, remains an analytical piece. The absence of empirical research denies us an understanding of the unavoidable complicated processes, contradictions and critical interrogations of programme rationales and assumptions. On methodological grounds, his analytical work relies extensively on policy documents and official data that do not capture the intricate process of intervention. Oelbaum s (2010, p. 6) suggestion that political reforms are inevitable preconditions for successful economic reforms is suggestive of highly unfounded faith placed in the formal institutionalist logic by instrumentally driven development scholars such as Fukuyama. This institutionalist logic finds expression in the good governance policy prescriptions for SSA countries. But Kelsall et.al (2010), and Grindle (2010) note that the high 15

26 expectations on the part of the aid industry for good governance have not translated into projected outcomes in most SSA countries. Grindle (2010) displays a limited theoretical understanding on the part of the aid agencies of the diverse political systems in SSA countries as one of the factors responsible for the failures. I will add that the aid industry s belief in best practices, that are undergirded by the simplistic assumption of the easy transferability of such best practices could also explain program failures. A questionable inference derived from Oelbaum s institutionalist logic is the assumption that successful economic reforms are guaranteed by sound institutions, and translate into effective politics. The issue of political settlement has become a crucial area for serious consideration in view of Northern Region s adverse reaction to incorporation as part of Ghana s state formation. Political settlements refer to continuous formal and informal institutional processes to create responsive and representative state-society relations. Based on my research findings, the failure of aid interventions to achieve their stated goals lies with the driving rationales and the assumptions of liberal institutionalism. This liberal institutionalism points to the need for research that will instigate a new kind of thinking that recognizes the complex nature of multiple polities in the region. In order for my study to critically interrogate numerous aid interventions, it will be necessary to move away from a one-sided analysis of the aid agencies perspectives, and move towards a much more complex view which examines relational practices and reflects upon interactions between an intervener and the intervened in a differentiated population. The people of the Northern Region differ in terms of their ancestral origins, and social and political traditions for rule-making, meaning making and relations building, and also along linguistic and historical lines. From my perspective, the extent to which the differences between the 16

27 people of the Northern Region play out as they encounter the aid interventions will provide insights into the shortcomings in the intervention programmes. Studying the way aid interventions are encountered in the social and political systems of the localities is a way to demonstrate the indeterminacy of aid processes involved. More particularly, this kind of interactional study will illuminate the inadequacy of positivistic-oriented liberal logics as they function in a post-colonial Northern Region. Pursuit of this relational-oriented study, in effect, problematizes the calcified apolitical technical solutions that reduce the complexity of the intervention. To facilitate a critical social relational study, I conceive of the aid industry as a generator of protectorates. A protectorate as defined by Mayall and de Oliveria is a form of governance shaping the lives, at least in the medium term, of those under their aegis (2011, p. 3). In my view, this definition of a protectorate as proffered by Mayall and de Oliveria appears neutral and unproblematic. If we consider the historical formation of the Northern Region, I view protectorates as deliberate and contradictory processes of governing communities in line with the priorities of the interveners and against the will of a significant number of the intervened population. The most likely outcome of pursuing these kinds of programs is that interventions will be writ large with irreconcilable contestations with positive outcomes. It is important to recognize that, for successful creation of protectorates, problems must be framed as new to warrant reformatted forms of intervention. The renewed intervention strategically delinks the historical past from the present. Against the backdrop of the conflict and poverty conditions dating from the colonial era, my study therefore challenges aid industry s framing of security and development problems in developing countries as new postcold war problems. The elimination of the historical development policies and practices, in my 17

28 thinking, is a credibility enhancement strategy to waive the complicity of the interveners in the production and perpetuation of the problems in the conflict-ridden region. Chapter 3 of this dissertation highlights the long historical processes of the conflict, insecurity and developmental challenges in the region. An attempt to frame these challenges as new and urgent problems ends up simplifying the complex issues involved, with the objective of institutionalizing quick-fix solutions. In order to create new protectorates, the aid industry deploys spin control mechanisms to justify its practices. As noted by Easterly (2005), the aid industry ignores their own past failed interventions with the likely tendency to replicate old approaches to solve an acclaimed new problem. A confirmation of these recycled interventions is evidenced in the discussions in chapters five and six. Chapter five reveals that the human security strategy of the UN JHSP, touted as a transformational framework, is actually driven primarily by the existing dominant frameworks. These dominant frameworks are the Poverty Reduction Strategic Papers (PRSPs), the frameworks of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and those put forward by the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD). Not only is the human security driven by existing dominant international development frameworks, its practices are articulated through capacity building, and community oriented approaches of empowerment and participation. Moreover, the aid industry, as a creator and regulator of new protectorates, thrives on the imposition of external ideas that are framed as universal blueprints. This marks aid practices as intentional external interventionist activities. Noticeable on the international aid landscape is the prescription of wide-ranging universal solutions anchored around empowerment, participation, good governance, capacity building and microfinance. Through such predetermined solutions, the aid industry poses as a benign enterprise with a genuine 18

29 intention to secure the lives of the disparate poor and vulnerable. I strongly suggest, however, that the aid industry is not a neutral entity, and this fact suggests that any intervention on their part must be scrutinized thoroughly in order to tease out the real interventionist logics. As an external interventionist practice, my study reveals that the aid industry is imbued with its unique ontological, epistemological and ideological viewpoints which underwrite the policies, programmes and projects that are imposed on framed objects. My research also demonstrates that the intervened-upon society has its unique and diverse spatio-temporal features. The intervened-upon society and population are far from being mere objects with no history, cultural worldview, meaning making, rule-making or social relational systems. The vitality of the intervened population makes it a legitimate area of investigation regarding its encounter with the international aid interveners. An interrogation of the mainstream development aid practitioners and development scholars such as Collier (2007) continues to conceive of the aid industry interventions as development assistance or development cooperation. In this respect, I deem that an interrogation of the rationales and assumptions that inform the policies and programmes of the aid industry as critical research pillars of my thesis. In classifying the aid industry as an interventionist enterprise, this thesis adopts a critical development-security nexus perspective to provide insight into the empirical manifestations of aid interventions. Benevolent assumptions about interventionist practices must be subjected to critical scrutiny in order to expose their congenital contradictions. Notable among these benign assumptions are the right to intervene, the necessity for intervention and desirability of the region to intervention. Following the above discussions that underpin the central research argument, the main research question for my study has been formulated. I ask; How are the rationales of 19

30 development aid and security interventions articulated by the aid agencies and received by the local population in conflict prone Northern Region? This key research question is vital to expose the actors, processes, imaginations and complex natures of the local setting, which makes direct interventions problematic. Through my key research question, the inevitable imbalances in power relations rife in interventions and the neglected social relational factors that defy interventionist rationales will be laid bare. Power relations and contestations are inevitable between aid institutions and actors, government agencies, and the heterogeneous local population. Secondary to the central research question, another important question is formulated as: How and in what ways are security and poverty framed by development aid practitioners and local actors in Ghana? In policy-oriented literature, interventions are treated as neutral or scientific practices that provide universal solutions as evidenced in the prescriptions embodied in the SAP and the MDGs. My study suggests that framing processes are vital to the understanding of aid interventions. It is necessary to interrogate the framing vectors and avoid the fiction that interventions are neutral or objective practices. Another set secondary questions examined in this study asks to what extent are the poverty reduction programs addressing the security challenges in the Northern Region of Ghana? And what are the specific operational and institutional challenges associated with the joint implementation of poverty reduction and security programs in Northern Region of Ghana? The essence of the first question is to problematize the interdependent relationship between poverty and security as conceived of by the DSN and thereby illuminate the broader relational factors at play. The second question provides insight into whether the DSN works empirically or just as an idealized imagination. Finally, an examination of the implementation challenges will provide information about the likely policy ramifications. 20

31 The ultimate objective of this study is to deepen our understanding of the complexities of development aid that has been geared toward poverty reduction in the conflict-sensitive area of the Northern Region. Notably, the study region has been engulfed in intractable ethnic conflict for at least four centuries and constitutes one of the top three poor regions in the country. The Northern Region is also a hub of international development aid and security interventions in Ghana. It is of the highest importance to conduct this research considering the pertinent contextual factors and my quest for a deeper understanding of the complexities in aid delivery practices in the region. Scope and Significance of study Development and security interventions that have been undertaken by the networked aid industry entail diverse practices of conceptualization, imagination and ideologies that are further underpinned by rationales and assumptions. These practices frame the programmes and projects that come face-to-face with post-colonial sites of intervention. Various historical and social relations influence and continue to shape interactions between the interveners and the intervened-upon population. This study contributes to the critical development and security literature of the aid industry. Stewart (2009) and Kliengebiel (2006), from a progressive standpoint, advocate for the adoption of DSN as an interventionist model for the recovery and transformation of postconflict regions. Such prescriptive assertions do not provide grounded conceptual and empirical insights into how and what programmes and projects are articulated in the name of development and security on the ground. My study contributes to providing empirical insights into the actual practices and processes of aid interventions. My study also brings the 21

32 problematic instrumental mobilization of development and security as a panacea to secure postconflict and postcolonial society to the forefront of aid discussions. A major finding of my research exposes the contestable processes of the articulation of the interventions under the guise of the constructed DSN. A very important finding of my study is the gross inadequacy of the DSN as model/framework to address the intractable development and security challenges in the Northern Region. The failure of the UN JHSP in particular to secure the localities of intervention and the region as a whole suggests the need to examine the liberal logics that drive the programme. The significance of my study is the way it exposes the conceptual and empirical weaknesses of interventionist tropes such as capacity building, empowerment and participation approaches that form the core activities of UNJHSP as well as the other aid agencies discussed in chapter four. Another revelation my study highlights is that the employment of the DSN framework to transform a conflict prone region maintains the short-term and narrow interventions in the region, thereby institutionalizing a status quo policy regime. My study is significant because it provides a lens through which to interrogate on-going security considerations, conflicts and development strategies as the underlying framework for post development agendas by the UN and its aid industry acolytes. This study s significance is in the revelation that the pursuit of the DSN is a strategy to promote crisis management practices through the neoliberal-oriented interventions. On the basis of information received during my fieldwork, I posit that the prevailing interventions deliberately seek to produce self-reliant individuals against inevitable threats, rather than focusing on the transformation of people and the society at large. Because this study is informed by critical political economy considerations and historical background, it highlights a 22

33 way to move beyond the narrow DSN framework toward an exploration of the social-relational approach and its role in the in the quest for long-term transformational or emancipatory goals. In addition, my research brings a critical relational perspective that is missing in the DSN literature, and provides a more complex formula for solutions than that reinvented by interventionist rationales and assumptions. Significantly, the study provides legitimate groundwork to move away from stylized understandings of the imagined nexus to interrogate the actual discourses and practices of development aid actors. Another significant intervention in my study is its contribution to the bourgeoning literature on resilience as an integral part of the interventionist rationality of practices in postconflict societies. Following Lentzos and Rose (2009), resilience is defined as.a systematic, widespread, organizational, structural and personal strengthening of subjective and material arrangements so as to be better able to anticipate and tolerate disturbances in complex worlds without collapse, to withstand shocks, and to rebuild as necessary (p. 243). From the context of the development and security literature, Chandler (2012), based on an analytical study of the Responsibility to Protect orientation of human security, suggests that resilience functions as a new DSN framework. However, my empirical findings suggest that resilience is driven by the same failed rationales and assumptions that ground aid interventions. From my perspective, resilience is a tactic to perpetuate the interventionist assumptions and rationales, a fact that certainly calls for critical examination of new aid frameworks. Thus, resilience has become a tactic to re-enact human agency as the main instrument for social change, independent of prevailing structural and institutional conditions. Essentially, the recourse to resilience effectively consolidates the problematization of the local as the source of conflict, thus normalizing the failed assumptions and rationales that ground aid and security 23

34 interventions. A vital implication of adoption of a resilience approach is to further add to the complexity reduction mission of the aid industry. This complexity reduction initiative, based on the study s findings, is precipitated by a negation of historical context, the global political economy, and the structural and domestic factors that shape development and security problems. Furthermore, renewed faith in a resilience framework, based on the findings, indicates that long-term transformational development of post-conflict societies is not a consideration for international development actors. Hence, securing a region through the DSN is highly impossible, and this impossibility has the tendency to institutionalize failure that results in the instigation of a formulation of new or recycled approaches. My study confirms that if there is an incipient shift in the meaning of security, individual empowerment will result in a decrease in risks and threats. The new understanding of security is markedly different from the UNDP s concept of security as freedom from fear and want. The adoption of this resilience approach is situated within the context of an overwhelming emphasis on the adaptability and flexibility of individuals as precondition for security. My study concludes that the adoption of resilience framework in the wake of colossal failures in securing the region is an attempt to normalize problems and maintain the prevailing unequal and contentious social relational order. A significant element of this study involves the addition of a regional dimension to the critical development and security literature. The literature on conflict and development indicates that there is an overwhelming emphasis placed on broad conflicts at the state/national level with less emphasis on local and regional or non-state conflicts. This overriding focus on state-level crises, according to Fukudar-Parr, Ashwill, Chiappa and Messineo (2008), might result in a conflagration of existing regional-based conflicts. The lack of attention given to the 24

35 framed non-state conflicts can be attributed to the narrow conventional definitions of war, which is primarily centered on contested combat against the state (Fukuda-Parr et al. 2008, p. 2). My study aims to fill this regional gap in both the mainstream and critical literature, especially analyzed from the perspective of a postcolonial region. From my perspective, this study will provide a solid nuanced understanding of conflict at the micro and local levels in terms of how everyday struggles are generated and sustained. This will provide a better prism for interpreting the wider processes of development and security relations toward poverty reduction. Methodological Approach- Qualitative Case Study and Field Methods In order to capture the inherently complex and contested processes of aid interventions, I adopt a qualitative case study approach. Peck and Theodore (2011, 2012) note that in the mutations of mobile policies in practical economies, beliefs and behaviours of policy actors are constitutively embedded within networks of knowledge expertise (many of which are translocal and trans-scalar), as well as within localized socio-institutional milieu. Policy designs, technologies, and frames are likewise regarded as complex and evolving social constructions rather than as concretely fixed objects (2012, p. 23). The crux of this statement is that international development practices involve policy formulation and programming processes that are reflective of the standpoints of the actors involved, who represent institutional interests and worldviews. It was necessary, therefore, to interview the core actors in the aid industry in order to have a better understanding discourses, ideas and frameworks that drive interventions. My methodological perspective is guided by my belief that a focus on development outcomes 25

36 without any sort of corresponding engagement with aid actors to seek clarification of the processes is not productive research. From my methodological perspective, the intervention site of the Northern Region is an unpredictable, unstable and chaotic region that generates various kinds of negotiated orders, accommodations, oppositions, separations and contradictions. In addition, the field is nonlinear, wherein an assumption of discretely interconnected sectors is far from reality. The plausible implication of this factor is that unexpected outcomes are common, rather than rare. The discrepancy in outcomes, in my view, requires the interrogation of the content and sources of the ideas that undergird aid intervention plans, particularly the unstated assumptions or rationales behind these interventions. In considering the position enunciated above, the empirical methodological approach adopted for this study is a critical interpretivist method, and challenges the pure scientific tradition currently used, because the field of intervention is complex and in constant reconstruction. The scientific tradition, as I understand it, is a methodological and philosophical tradition that postulates that social phenomena can be studied independent of human senses, and makes objectivity one of its vital canons. Furthermore, the scientific tradition is underpinned by a positivistic ethos, which means that it seeks to generate universal rules that can be generalized to different contexts. In this scientific tradition, then, peculiar societal differences (history, political systems, colonialism, etc.) do not matter. The neglect of societal differences in the scientific tradition is attributable to its underlying assumptions of uniformity and regularity in even the most diverse societies. A further objection to a positivist methodological approach is that it dwells on the notion that there exist observable regularities in nature that can be described, and linear patterns that can be established (Moses and Knutsen, 26

37 2007; Searle, 1995). The interpretivist approach recognizes the important roles of the observer and social relations in creating the patterns we study as social scientists. This approach implies that all knowledge is produced and constructed (Stake, 2005, p. 452; Flyvberg, 2011, p. 303). In supporting the interpretive research methodology, Guba and Lincoln (2005, p. 204) and Mabry (2008, p. 216) argue for an ontology of truth and a subjectivist epistemology in which meaning is socially constructed. This ontology of truth that underpins interpretive methodology does not subscribe to foundational truths, because it presupposes that reality is not just out there as foundational reference point. Thus I adopted a different interpretive method for my thesis to enable me examine broader and more core aspects of human life. Vital core issues of human life include institutional power, social relations, insecurity, poverty, conflict and nature of global political economy. The core issues that my study examines are not given variables that can be abstracted apriori. In following Lash (2009), who suggests that an essential way of knowing is predicated upon the relevance of the experiences of people who live in unpredictable social systems where chaos and uncertainty characterize daily challenges to survival. Chaos, uncertainty and messiness are relevant features of my study region, a fact that makes it prudent for me to adopt a qualitative approach to facilitate a better understanding of the nature of relations among diverse polities. Such a methodological orientation has deepened my understanding of the complexities of development aid and poverty reduction in the conflict prone Northern Region. The uniqueness of my study region and the pertinent issues examined in my study essentially required me to use this kind of context-specific approach. Berg (2007, p. 285) describes a case study as in-depth qualitative study of one or a few illustrative cases. The outstanding advantage of utilizing the case study method is akin to what Geertz (1973) calls 27

38 thick description. These descriptions are strong motivators to gain a detailed and distinct understanding of the phenomenon under study. This method has also influenced my decision to undertake a qualitative case study research approach. Qualitative case studies entail investigating particular phenomenon as a complete whole as much as possible, particularly in real-life contexts. Case studies are suitable for research work that has no definite boundary between the context and the phenomenon, which is essential to provide insightful information. A qualitative case study is equally suitable for researching complex phenomena such as conflict, security and development issues that demonstrate the irreducibility of the uncertainty of real life conditions into statistically predictable and generalizable variables. One of the reasons that influenced my decision to adopt a qualitative case study is the complex nature of the phenomena of my research study. This complexity lies in the disparate ethnic groups structured by colonial practices that have endured postcolonial political engagements as well as chronic poverty and insecurity conditions. Furthermore, Barron, Diprose and Woolcock (2011) utilized a qualitative case study approach extensively in their work Contesting Development: Participatory Projects and Local Conflict Dynamics in Indonesia. This work has been situated around the conflict-development nexus used as the framework to examine the World Bank s Kecamaten Development Program undertaken in selected districts that were badly affected by the 1997 financial crisis in Indonesia. Barron, Diprose and Woolcock justify their use of the qualitative case study because of the process undertaken to trace the orientation of their research. They were interested in the identification of the mechanisms and processes that trigger, sustain or resolve conflict (Barron, Diprose and Woolcock, 2011, p. 272). Through the adoption of a case study 28

39 approach, their work brought to the fore symbolic contestations that characterized aid interventions. My study examines the processes of these kinds of interventions. A research endeavor like mine therefore requires the examination of the interplay of institutional power relations and their encounters with local power structures and systems of disparate groups of people. In order to realize this objective, I utilized qualitative data collection methods: indepth interviews and documentary analysis. Certainly, my adoption of the qualitative case study approach has brought to the fore the diverse contestations and contradictions associated with the different programmes. Furthermore, Lewis, Bebbington, Batterbury, Shah, Olson, Siddiqi, and Duvall (2003) suggest the need for the use of qualitative case studies in research into development interventions, particularly when the focus is to understand the ways in which aid interventions are constructed and negotiated. They recommend the use of in-depth interviews and documentary analyses as the chosen data collection tools for critical case study work. My research aversion towards a quantitative approach stems from the static policy recommendations that came from quantitative studies such as Collier, Elliot, Hegre, Hoeffler, Reynal-Querol and Sambanis (2003) Breaking the Conflict Trap. Collier et al (2003), with the utilization of econometric models, conclude that resource curses, youth population bulges and low income are the main causes of conflict, insecurity and underdevelopment in difficult regions. The policy effect is the promotion of entrepreneurship based on the assumption that entrepreneurship provides the requisite incentive to avoid conflict by reducing poverty. In fact, the empirical record of conflict-afflicted states such as Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia suggest that this income/market driven pro-poor prescription was a flawed option from the onset. The remedial prescription, however, cannot be delinked from the methodological foundation that 29

40 homogenized different contexts with common explanatory variables. In essence, a decontextualized quantitative approach ignores the historical-political processes of conflict and underdevelopment in conflict regions. There is a compelling need to depart from such decontextualized approaches, hence my decision to utilize a qualitative case study approach that will generate highly context-dependent knowledge and provide insightful information about a set of phenomena that can be applied to other contexts. Another reason for my application of this qualitative case study approach is to challenge the veracity of the DSN framework from a post-colonial regional context. Honke and Müller (2012, p. 395) suggest that a suitable approach to interrogate the failures inherent in the DSN is a qualitative case study that reflects an encounter between the fields and practices of interveners and the intervened-upon local residents. Through such an interface encounter, they suggest that the contradictions inherent in aid interventions can be exposed to contest the positivistic methodological persuasion of international relations that tend to give hegemonic status to external interventions. Honke and Müller further suggest that such a practice-oriented methodological approach, that utilizes in-depth interviews and participant observation, provides useful generalizations that are empirically grounded. Thus, they deem qualitative methods to be better tools for critical-oriented studies than quantitative-driven security studies based on abstracted formal models and statistical surveys. Although I did not formally utilize a participant observation method, I made sure that critical observations did not escape me in the course of conducting my in-depth interviews and informal conversations with residents. These critical observations enabled me to extract the kinds of meaning that research participants assign to their socio-economic and political circumstances. In adopting a 30

41 qualitative case study approach, it enabled me to challenge the hegemonic development and security studies which positivistic methods rarely reveal. The choice of a qualitative case study has given me insights into the historical processes of aid interventions, and has allowed me to develop certain sensitivities to the context of my study and well as some knowledge and understanding of the processes on interventions. As suggested by Guba and Lincoln (1985, 2005), qualitative research is predicated on the view that social phenomena, human dilemmas, and the natures of each case is situational and reveal real happenings of diverse types. According to Mabry (2008, p. 217) and Stake (2005, p.449 ), the term contextuality constitutes an aspect of the dynamism and complexity of a case, which implies that cases are shaped by many contexts, including historical, social, political, ideological, and cultural contexts. My use of contextuality, here, is not employed from a static deterministic sense. Contextuality is deployed in the sense of having multiple manifestations and diverse influences that make a context fluid and is intended to foster a socially emergent constellation of contingent factors that are worked up and confronted, rather than being ignored in daily interactions. It is from this definition of contextuality that my study was undertaken in the Northern Region. Like any other region in Ghana, the Northern Region is shaped by many relationships between different groups. By situating my study within the two specific sites in the Northern Region, my research has generated valuable research data. My research has been enriched by revelations that are rarely found in statistically-driven national surveys that increasingly blur pertinent inter- and intra-regional differences. A notable revelation emerging from this work is the deeper historical foundation of development and security challenges in the Northern Region. 31

42 The use of case studies help scholars investigate indeterminate real life situations and provide a reliable platform to study processes, events, human agency and struggles. Yin (2009) posits that qualitative case studies are appropriate research methods that are anchored around how and why questions, which fit well with my study. In addition, a qualitative case study is not bounded by linear and deterministic assumptions and therefore provides openended ways to examine multiple interventions by different aid organizations. Furthermore, qualitative case studies enable a researcher to identify relevant patterns outside of the case itself, which help to convey deeper insights into the phenomenon. In as much as statistical generalization is not the aim of a qualitative case study, I suggest that a purposeful, deep examination of real life phenomena is bound to illuminate vital information that will have serious implications on how aid programs are developed, The possible generalization of case study findings explains why Gerring defines a case study as an intensive study of a single unit for the purpose of understanding a larger class of similar units (2004, p. 342). More importantly, using case studies to generalize a position on a theory or framework like the DSN is an effective research method when we adopt Popper s falsification principle against positivist conclusions. Given that the DSN did not achieve its aid expectations, it should be possible to generalize the ineffectiveness of the DSN when applied to other conflict-prone regions that have similar contexts with that of the Northern Region. Case selection is always fundamentally critical when employing the case study method. Yin (2009) posits that achieving the greatest understanding of a phenomenon under study depends, to a large extent, on the selection of cases. My study took place in the cities Tamale and Yendi, with more interviews conducted in the former than the latter due to strategic and practical reasons. My own studies and other consultations suggest that these two places have, 32

43 over the years, attracted a great number of international development aid and security interventions. Moreover, Tamale, for instance, has remained the pivotal region of both colonial and postcolonial administrative practices and policies. Significantly, the two sites constitute the largest multi-ethnic population in the region and are homes to the largest ethnic group, that is, the Dagbon. Given the majority political status conferred on these areas by the colonial government and maintained by postcolonial governments, they constitute one of the significant development and security hubs of the Northern Region. Currently, they function as the development anchor of the region, which explains why it has become so attractive to development aid interventions. In addition, these two case sites have experienced diverse conflicts and insecurity problems, both intra and inter-ethnic, which have threatened the stability of the region. The selected study sites in the Northern Region were chosen in order to provide an appropriate litmus test for the application of the DSN, and are helpful in seeking to understand aid interventions. The presence of vital social relational features associated with the selected sites have provided me with insightful information that can be used to address the central and secondary research questions, as well as the overall aim of the study. With the quest to obtain insightful information on the main focus of my qualitative case study, I ensured that my key participants were officials with sound knowledge and an understanding of their practices. The key participants roles in the agencies addressed here include: policy design/formulation, operational programming, project implementation, project/program planning, facilitators of training programs, program/project managers, fund management and performance assessment. In order to interview the right or appropriate research participants, I went through a formal approach and booked book appointments for 33

44 each interview. Some of the donor and government institutions were hesitant to negotiate for an interview appointment. In-depth interviews were utilized for this study and conducted through an interactive process to elicit detailed information. Following the structure of feminist methods, I employed in-depth interviews not only to gather data, but to probe into the construction and meaningmaking of the data. Given the highly contestable discursive nature of development and security concepts from both the interveners and intervened-upon populations, it became prudent for me to conduct in-depth interviews in order to obtain a nuanced understanding of the issues at hand. I did not utilize quantitative methods such as longitudinal studies and closed-ended questionnaires or surveys, because I concluded that they would hinder a deeper understanding of how the rationales and assumptions were articulated in aid interventions. More particularly, if the research objective is to understand differential power relations along with contradictions and exclusionary processes of intervention then it was clearly more appropriate to utilize in-depth interviews. I conducted in-depth interviews across a diverse spectrum of key participants, including officials representing development agencies, such as: DfID, CIDA, JICA, ActionAid, UNDP, FAO, WFP, CARE International, Danish International Development Agency, Netherland Development Organization and Catholic Relief Services that operate in the study area. As part of my interview process, I prepared an appropriate interview guide that highlighted the essential questions relative to the central research question and the subsidiary questions. The questions posed to the key informants of the various development aid agencies included questions about their understanding of aid interventions, how the interventions are determined, and what processes were used to define poverty and security problems. 34

45 Conducting fieldwork research has generated this inside-outside debate in terms of what the ideal position a researcher should take in order to gain insightful information. I can confirm that being an insider does not necessarily guarantee access to insightful information. In fact, the interactive nature of the research process does not lend itself to such binary or dichotomous designations. Furthermore, as an interactive process, the position occupied by the researcher and participant changes, and an interview may be influenced by the age, marital status, and occupation of the interview subject. When conducting a qualitative case study, therefore, it is important for the researcher to develop an attitude of empathy or caring as suggested by Collins (1991). In fact, my 12 hour journey to the study site gave me a prima facie appreciation of the development challenges manifested in the region, particularly during my journey from Salaga to Tamale. The scenes of disparate women (including those who were pregnant and lactating) enduring the long miles, on foot, required to find firewood and water to meet their daily energy and consumption needs was played out against the backdrop of numerous aid interventions in the area and brought the aid paradox I discuss in this work into sharp focus. This interventionist discrepancy affirmed my zeal to seek out an understanding of the paradoxical conditions under which the locals lived. In addition, this dismal spectacle buoyed me to examine the adverse social-relational processes that have conditioned abject poverty, in addition to the extra-local and supranational policies and programmes. The adverse relationship between numerous aid interventions and the dire living conditions actually experienced by those on the ground reconsolidated my initial drive to examine how interventionist rationales have been articulated. I therefore concur with Merriam et al (2001) that, in conducting qualitative research, it behooves the researcher to be empathetic to the causes and problems of the research participant. Fine and Weiss (1996) also suggest 35

46 that, in undertaking field research, it is incumbent on the researcher to work on the hyphen that exists with the researched. My research certainly prioritized the poor and marginalized people because they constitute research participants whose perspectives, perceptions and ways of interpreting their lived experiences were crucial for my study. I interviewed selected groups of the diverse poor people in different localities. While it is essential to develop solidarity with the locals, it is equally necessary for a researcher to be mindful of his or her preconceived ideas and perceptions. It is also imperative for a researcher to constantly question his or her assumptions and values during data analysis. In dialogical interviews, the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee is critical to the success of the interview process. Naples (2003) asserts that it is imperative for a researcher to exercise negotiated flexibility during the course of research as a vital tactic to gain access to relevant participants for useful information. To gain a better understanding of an interviewee s perspectives when pursuing a qualitative case study research, the researcher must strive to combine involvement and observation. More essential is the need to create a reasonable distance in order to enable the effective observation, analysis and description to the outsider. I remained outsider on most occasions during the fieldwork. I regularly interacted with my research participants and other community members in order to forge a sense of personal involvement and understanding of their perspectives and perceptions. I did establish cordial working rapport with the local residents, who initially were suspicious of my presence to the extent that believed me to be an undercover agent for the government. After multiple encounters, however, an effective relationship was fostered between us, particularly with the small-scale farmers. As a cautionary reminder, I was alert to the non-unidirectional power relations inherent in the research interview process, as in the 36

47 moment when key participants from the aid and government agencies tried to assert themselves in response to certain questions. I was able, however, to moderate the interview in order to gather adequate and vital data I could use to enhance the study. An analysis of a qualitative case study has to be detailed enough to reflect the wide gamut of issues that emerged during research. Analyzing a qualitative case study s research finding obliges the researcher to exercise immense reflexive subjectivity, given that the analysis is filtered through a researcher s worldviews and interpretations. It is important to note that the analysis of testimony is based on the themes embedded in the responses given by the research participants. According to Gubrium and Holstein (1997), many concerns have been raised about the possibility of silencing the narrator s voice when conducting such dialogical interviews. My research ensured a balanced representation of the diverse views of respondents as evident in the subsequent chapters of this thesis. As stated earlier, this research also relied extensively on document analysis through the utilization of both policy documents and colonial archival records. Document analysis as a technique used to categorize, investigate, interpret and identify the limitations of physical sources has a long history is sociological studies, and has been used by classical sociologists like Durkheim, Marx, and Weber. A notable example is Durkheim s use of official government statistics to develop his classic work on suicide. Glaser and Strauss (1967, p. 163) posit that sociological research must regard documents as a source of data or as sociological interviewee or anthropological informant. Anthropologist Jack Goody (1977) also believes that written documents are an insightful yet neglected field for research studies and declares that, without documents, salient information would remain invisible. Latour (1987) also sees documents as forms of action from a distance, whereby decisions written in one context can 37

48 carry implications for action in future settings. Documents also have the capacity to construct human identity and characteristics, because they are not objective data sources but actively manipulated sources of information. The relevance of documents in sociological studies spurred my decision to use them in order to gather meaning and define relations between the interveners and local residents. Documented records, in my view, are not objective or neutral materials, but are social materials that aim to convey a viewpoint or position of the party involved. According to Prior (2008), documents are situated records that take many forms and enter into episodes of social interaction in two pertinent ways. First they enter as receptacles of content and second, they serve as a functioning agent in networks (p. 485; 489). The key consideration, then, is to view documents as objects and actors in a web of social relations. Scott (2006) further identifies two important uses of documents as a research strategy. The first relates to content that focuses on the material lodged within the document, while the second suggests the ways in which documents are used and exchanged in communities. Alternatively, documents can also be used both as resources for data and as topics in their own right (Prior, 2003; Zimmerman and Pollner, 1971). My study employs both uses of documents suggested by Scott, because they offer relevant information to facilitate a critical examination of rationales behind aid interventions as well as provide ways to understand institutional power relations between the aid agencies and local actors. A cursory assessment of the development landscape shows a consistent trend of discrepancies between aid industry intentions and outcomes, yet little research work has been conducted to question the processes that ferry such rationales and assumptions within the context of Northern Region. My study, therefore, examines the conceptual structure and 38

49 fundamental assumptions that led to the production of aid reports and uses these reports as topics in themselves, beyond the material contents that they contain. Additionally, the material contents were thoroughly scrutinized in order to address the core and related research questions helpful in unearthing the rhetorical nature of aid interventions. Archival sources provide significant insight into the historical context of the insecurity, poverty and conflict issues that arise in the study region. The use of archival sources also provides reliable information used to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of aid and security problems that are not reducible to simplistic assumptions. The relevance of archival documents to this project involves their use as a resource on which to conduct a critical discourse analysis of the programs. The operational reality is that the external aid institutions work largely through institutional reports, written policies, programmes and operational guidelines that shape the form and content of aid interventions. The intentions, assumptions, and goals of aid interventions are, on most occasions, stated in written terms, which makes the sourcing of relevant documents vital to this study. I adopted document methods because it provides my study with the accurate and critical background information necessary to complement the in-depth interview and ultimately strengthen the analysis. Given the critical orientation of my study, exploiting documents methods, in my view, is a reasonable tool to obtain information and knowledge germane to colonial and postcolonial development and security interventionist practices. It is for this reason that I gained relevant insightful information from the archival sources about the atrocious colonial practices at the national and regional archival offices in both Accra and Tamale. Policy documents from pertinent institutions such as the African Union, World Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Government of Ghana (GoG) and Department 39

50 for International Development (DfID) were sourced. Without any shred of hesitation, I assert that the use of document sources boosted my understanding of institutional power relations and rationales within the aid interventions. Above all, the document method did provide the vital complement to the in-depth interview in addressing both the research questions and aims. In respect to the sampling techniques used to facilitate my research, I settled on two non-probability sampling techniques. These are purposive and semi-snowball sampling methods used with the goal of obtaining insightful and deep information to guide this study. With regard to the relevance of purposive sampling, Berg (2007) and Stake (2005) (who calls it judgmental sampling), view it as a technique ideal for a case study research, whereby the researcher uses his judgment regarding which samples would serve his best research interest. An important factor in selecting cases is the requirement on the part of the researcher to have sound knowledge of the actors involved, as suggested by Yin (2009). In preparing for this study, my prior engagement with a number of aid agencies and my familiarity with policy documents gave me reasonable experiential insights about the various organizations that work on development and security issues in the region. Further, the relevance of the agencies in relation to the research area was a key criterion utilized to select agencies whose officials I interviewed. The semi-snowball sampling technique was adopted for some community members who were willing and able to be interviewed. I interacted with the same community residents on a number of occasions in order to establish consistency, variation, and the authenticity of the diverse responses. My fieldwork was undertaken from July 1 to October , and took me to various communities in Tamale and Yendi. From the government sector, seven ministries and agencies were selected for interviews, as well as ten donor agencies (both multilateral and bilateral), 5 40

51 International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), 10 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) (including 5 Community-Based Organizations) and 2 research institutions. In all, a total number of 65 participants were involved in this study. It is vital to stress at this juncture that this thesis is largely informed by field research, as well as by an evaluation of both relevant primary and secondary literature. Furthermore, this study also benefited from a relevant literature of critical orientation that theorizes the complex relations between the aid industry and the intervened-upon population. The study was undertaken in full consideration of its ethical implications, particularly when it came to issues related to confidentiality, anonymity, informed consent and harm/risk to participants. Before I embarked on the fieldwork, I applied for ethical clearance to the Research and Ethics Board of the University of Windsor. This ethical clearance was approved and issued REB # 29087, which expired on August 31, My research was accomplished prior to my transfer to the University of Waterloo. This ethical approval imposed a burden of responsibility on me to ensure that my research followed the highest possible ethical requirements in order to establish and maintain its credibility within the academic community. In full compliance with ethical requirements, I can vouch that no participant was coerced and/or enticed with monetary incentive to participate in the research interview. Before the interview was conducted, I devoted considerable time to explaining the details of the research outlined on the information letter. I had to thoroughly explain the content of the information letter to make sure that respondents fully understood the details so that they could make an informed judgment as to whether or not to participate in the interview. I devoted ample time to comprehensively explaining their rights as participants (such as voluntary participation and its associating correlates), the potential benefits and inherent risks associated 41

52 with the research to respondents who were curious about the study. At the end of each interview, we both signed the consent form. I retained copies of the consent forms while research participants were given the signed copies of the information letter. In observing strict practices of confidentiality, hard copies of information from the research participants as found on tapes, along with transcribed materials are currently under safe lock. The issue of confidentiality in my study has invariably prevented me from divulging some critical information. I am of the view that this emphasis on confidentiality promotes secrecy, especially when it comes to issues related to the public interest. Absolute confidentiality cannot be guaranteed because it is incumbent on researchers to report and analyze their findings. In this case, I confirm van den Hoonard s thesis, which notes that promises of confidentiality are easier to make than to keep (2002, p. 8). In addition, I suggest that to guarantee anonymity in face-to face interviews was impossible. In fact, to ensure anonymity in a research study that is geared towards social change is counter-productive because the poor cannot be studied in detail through deductive methods. Therefore, an attempt to hide the identities of my research participants, especially the poor, beyond hiding their identity with a pseudonym, has the possible effect of introducing a substantial amount of unconfirmed information into the data. 42

53 Figure 1: Map of Ghana 43

54 Figure 2: Map of Northern Region Source: Centre for Remote Sensing and geographic Images, University of Ghana. Summary of the Chapters The remainder of this study proceeds with one conceptual chapter, one chapter that provides the necessary historical background to the study, three empirical related chapters, and a concluding chapter. Specifically, chapter two deals with the conceptual framework of the thesis. As I discussed earlier in relation to the critical dispositions of the central research question and the sequel research questions, this thesis adopts a critical development-security 44